14th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia

The 14th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was held from 20 to 22 January 1990 in the Belgrade Sava Centar. It was the last congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ), and it was attended by delegates from all the republics and provinces, as well as a party delegation from the Yugoslav People's Army. The Congress was dominated mostly by clashes between the Serbian and Slovenian delegations over the power and decision making process of the constituent republics. The Slovenes asked for a confederation party and state, while the Serbs supported a centralized government. All proposals of the Slovenian delegation, led by Milan Kucan, were rejected, leading to Slovene delegation member Ciril Ribicic stating, "Under these circumstances, we have to leave the Communist Party of Yugoslavia." This was followed by a walkout of the Slovene delegation in an act of rebellion, and Slobodan Milosevic decided to take a break to count the delegates and establish a new quorum. The Croatian delegation refused to resume the congress until the Slovenes returned, and the Croats left when attempts were made to resume the Congress. They were joined by the delegations of Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Congress was adjourned. It was not recalled the next day as planned, and the SKJ broke up as the communist associations in each republic changed their names to "Socialist" or "Social-Democratic" parties.